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• Assessment of daily internet use time could assist in periodic screening of students at-risk of problematic internet use. • This would help in early detection and referral to an appropriate mental health expert for further assessment and management. • Future studies should explore the optimum threshold value for achieving the desired level of sensitivity and specificity. The current article explored the possibility of using daily internet use time as an indicator for problematic internet use (PIU) among college/ university students based on observations from a multi-centric, multi-country study conducted across eight different countries. Additionally, the current article explored whether daily night time sleep and physical activity can serve as possible indicators of PIU. The present article presents the findings from analysis of information collected from 2643 college/university students from eight countries. Area under the ROC curve (AUC) was calculated to compare the predictive performance of three different indicator variables in the study participants to determine PIU. The AUC for daily internet use time was 0.64 (95 % CI: 0.62 to 0.656), which was higher than the AUC for weekly physical activity (0.599; 95 % CI: 0.580 to 0.618) and daily night time sleep (0.563; 95 % CI: 0.544 to 0.582). The AUC for three indicator variables was compared, which showed that the AUC for daily internet time was significantly higher than the AUC for daily night-time sleep. The assessment of daily internet use time as part of a larger battery of general health-related questions could be applied periodically among young students for screening of PIU in addition to a host of other important mental and physical health related conditions and behaviors. However, further studies are needed to determine optimal cut-off depending upon the desired trade-off between sensitivity and specificity for screening among different populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Cognitive reappraisal (CR) and expressive suppression (ES) were examined in a college-aged sample in the Middle East. • CR was positively associated with elevated levels of positive affect and wellbeing. • ES was associated with greater negative affect. • Academic achievement did not appear to be impacted by use of either strategy. Cognitive reappraisal (CR) and expressive suppression (ES) are emotion regulation strategies that have been demonstrated to be differentially associated with psychological wellbeing. However, this relationship has never been investigated in a Middle Eastern sample. As a contribution to the literature, we employed a cross-sectional design in which 147 college students in the United Arab Emirates were sampled (m age = 21.37 years, SD = 4.76). We examined the extent to which CR and ES are used in this context and investigated the association between the use of these two emotion regulation strategies and affect (both positive and negative), flourishing, academic achievement, and social support. A series of hierarchical linear regressions indicated that the use of CR was positively associated with positive affect (β = 0.35), flourishing (β = 0.52), emotional coping (β = 0.15), and instrumental coping (β = 0.19), and negatively with negative affect (β = −0.20). ES was positively associated with negative affect (β = 0.20), and negatively with both emotional (β = −0.40) and instrumental coping (β = −0.24). Academic achievement was not significantly associated with either CR or ES. This study finds that the use of emotion regulation strategies parallel those obtained elsewhere in the world. Despite cultural variations, participants in this sample also evidenced a preference for the use of CR during times of distress and its use is associated with elevated psychological wellbeing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study estimated the prevalence of generalized problematic Internet use (PIU) in a sample of college-aged young adults resident in the United Arab Emirates. It also assessed associations between PIU, Internet use, and two psychological outcomes, depression and explicit self-esteem. The study was cross-sectional. A sample of 706 participants (M = 20.71, SD = 2.13) completed measures of generalized PIU, depression, explicit self-esteem, and a range of demographic variables. PIU was common in this sample, so too was depression, and low self-esteem. PIU did not differ as a result of age, sex, level of education, or marital status. PIU and its factors were consistently predicted by elevated depressive symptoms, increasing duration of daily online time, and diminished ratings of self-esteem. This study serves as the very first estimation of generalized PIU in a sample of young adults resident in this region of the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Creativity training is an essential component of higher education in the United Arab Emirates. • Domain-general training in creativity enhances creative output as assessed using multiple outcome measures. • Following training in creativity, subjects' capacity for self-monitoring of their performance improved. Abstract A plethora of evidence suggests that creativity can be enhanced following training. In the United Arab Emirates, where creativity and innovation are overtly promoted, especially among young adults, university students complete a semester-long course in creativity as part of their undergraduate degrees. The effectiveness of this course, however, remains undetermined. Thus, we examined, using a sample of 133 participants who completed the 13-week program, whether improvements to creative production, creative self-efficacy (CSE), and neuro-executive functioning would emerge. Pre to post-test differences were assessed and substantial improvements to originality, elaboration, and fluency were observed. CSE was enhanced. However, neuro-executive functioning remained unchanged following the program. These results contribute to the literature attesting to the efficacy of training in creativity skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The social-network-use disorder (SNUD) was recently proposed as a potentially useful diagnosis in the International Classification of Diseases 11th Revision category "other specified disorders due to addictive behaviors." Problematic Facebook use is among the most often investigated types of SNUD. Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale (BFAS) is the most widely used measure of problematic Facebook use. However, little data support the scale's measurement invariance across different cultural groups or age groups. The present study investigated the validity and measurement invariance of the BFAS across different countries, different age groups, and different cohorts. BFAS was administered alongside depression, anxiety, and stress measures in a total sample of 5470 university and high school students from three continents and five countries: Algeria, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Poland, and the United Arab Emirates. The scale showed a lack of measurement invariance across different group comparisons. Patterns of error term correlations, factor loadings, reliability coefficients, relationships with criterion variables, as well as prevalence estimates differed in groups of interest. Lack of measurement invariance and consequently substantially different functioning of the scales across samples limits any cross-cultural comparisons and generalizability of studies' results on problematic Facebook use. Potential causes of poor cross-cultural performance of BFAS and consequences for research on SNUD are discussed. • Social-network-use disorder is increasingly recognized as a genuine addiction. • Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale (BFAS) is widely used in addiction research. • BFAS validity was tested in different countries, age groups, and cohorts. • The scale showed a lack of measurement invariance across different samples. • Studies using BFAS are cross-culturally incomparable and not generalizable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]